Tag Archives: National Day of Prayer

An almost empty Piazza del Duomo on Tuesday in Milan, Italy. The Italian government imposed restrictions on movement across the entire country as cases of the virus soared. (Credit: Alessandro Grassani for The New York Times)

A cartoon in last week’s Spectator (British) showed a couple in front of their TV set listening to endless news on the coronavirus. The husband turned to his wife and said, “I sure miss Brexit.” British readers will remember that the news was dominated by Brexit for 3 ½ years!

When we first got a television set in the late 1950’s, TV news lasted ten minutes in the evening. That’s all. If the coronavirus had been around then, we would have avoided all the panic and negativity that surrounds it now. With an uncountable number of 24/7 news channels, we are daily saturated with news of the virus. It’s overwhelming us and affecting people mentally as well as physically.

There is no toilet paper available anywhere in the Lansing area (at least I haven’t found any). No drinking water, either. For some inexplicable reason, stores have also run out of vegetarian beans. Entire rows of shelving are empty. From Monday afternoon at 3pm, all restaurants and bars in Michigan will have to close. They will only be allowed to sell take-out food. Schools closed from Monday for at least three weeks. We are all encouraged to stay home. In England, if one person in the family gets sick, then everybody should self-isolate for 14 days to allow the virus to run its course.

It’s affecting international relations, with flights between Europe and America suspended for a month.

The virus is changing the world. The gradual advancement of globalization over the last 75 years is under severe strain, with nations increasingly looking after themselves. Some European countries have closed their borders to their neighbors and are not following the lead of the EU in their national affairs. It’s a case of every country for itself.

Will we ever return to normalcy?

MR

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Covid-19 virus has “swept away” the last remaining “illusions” about the EU German-Foreign-Policy, 18 March, 2020

Newsletter – EU Solidarity (II) – Experts expect the Corona crisis to have a serious impact on the EU and speculate a possible disintegration of the Union. According to an expert in the USA, the heavy human toll that the pandemic will exact and the feeling “that the European institutions are not helping,” could give rise to centrifugal tendencies, particularly in those countries hardest hit, such as Italy and Spain, which are also the countries deeply indebted. Tensions between Germany, on the one hand, and France and Italy on the other, have been already increasing since Berlin unilaterally closed Germany’s borders, thereby annulling the Schengen Agreements. Whereas the Élysée Palace has angrily complained about “the unilateral measures at the borders,” the pro-EU Italian daily La Repubblica, notes that Berlin, rather than a detailed coordination “with the partners,” in one of the worst crises the Union has faced, it pursues “a national logic.” Therefore, the Covid-19 virus has “swept away” the last remaining “illusions” about the EU. (https://www.german-foreign-policy.com/en/news/detail/8222/)

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“Stay home” is not a sufficient plan
by James Hamlin, March 11, 2020, The Atlantic

This coronavirus is unknown to our species. Once it breaks into one of our cells, the extent of its spread through the body seems to vary significantly. The experience can slowly progress from the familiar— cough, congestion, fever — to a life-threatening inflammatory response as the virus spreads down into the lungs, filling the airways with fluid. Survivors can have permanent scarring in the lungs. The virus can also spread into other organs, causing liver damage or gastrointestinal disease. These effects can play out over longer periods than in the flu, sometimes waxing and waning. Some patients have begun to feel better, then fallen critically ill. The disease can be fatal despite receiving optimal medical care.

In retrospect, was it wise to have relied on China to produce essential parts for the supply chains of goods vital to our national security? Does it appear wise to have moved the production of pharmaceuticals and lifesaving drugs for heart disease, strokes and diabetes to China? Does it appear wise to have allowed China to develop a virtual monopoly on rare earth minerals crucial to the development of weapons for our defense? (Pat Buchanan, 3/13/2020)

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In the corona crisis, the German government has initiated measures aiding the German economy, but refuses urgently recommended measures by the WHO for protecting the population. Berlin is doing “everything” to prevent the coronavirus COVID-19 from “affecting the economy throughout Germany,” German Minster of the Economy, Peter Altmaier, was quoted saying early this month. The measures are reinforcing positions of German businesses vis à vis their global rivals. The following steps will be discussed tomorrow, Friday. At the same time, the government is opposing the closure of schools and kindergartens, as WHO and leading experts are recommending, because children transmit the virus for a longer period than adults, according to initial studies. Germany’s Minister of Health, Jens Spahn, on the other hand, declared that closing schools should be avoided, so that parents are still available as workers for the enterprises. This, however, would eliminate any possibility of containment of the virus, as several Asian countries have been able to do. According to Chancellor Angela Merkel, “60 to 70 percent” of the population could be infected – throughout Germany. (German Foreign Policy, 3/12/2020)

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New Zealand’s PM has said nearly everyone entering the country from midnight on Sunday must self-isolate to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Jacinda Ardern said the new measure also included returning New Zealanders. The only exemption is for small Pacific islands with no confirmed virus cases. “I make no apologies. This is an unprecedented time,” Ms. Ardern said, describing the new rules as the strictest in the world. New Zealand has six confirmed cases. (BBC, 3/14/2020)

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FINANCIAL PROBLEMS STARTED A LONG TIME AGO

A decade of aggressive risk-taking, nurtured in part by central banks, has ended in traumatic fashion. This week marked the biggest one-day falls for Wall Street and UK equities since the great crash of 1987 while European bourses recorded all-time daily slumps. In the space of just a few weeks, record equity peaks and elevated credit valuations have succumbed to a long-feared moment of reckoning. Government bond markets had been warning for a while that 2020 was going to be make-or-break for global economic growth. Meanwhile, the leaderboard in stock markets had been dominated by defensive, high-quality companies — another signal that cast doubt on the widely held view that corporate earnings would rebound strongly this year. But such signs were mostly ignored. Money poured into corporate bonds, emerging markets and already crowded equity sectors such as US technology shares, pushing valuations toward extreme levels. Until last month, that is. When questioned about the risk-versus-reward dynamic of buying assets at these prices in recent months, the response from professional investors pretty much boiled down to a need to “put money to work”, accompanied by a wink suggesting that central banks had their backs. This week’s rout in markets is of giant proportions, triggered by an oil price war on top of an escalating health crisis across Europe and North America. An abrupt US travel ban on Europeans for 30 days triggered Thursday’s sharp sell-off across markets. The adverse sentiment also acknowledged the limited monetary ammunition central banks have, leaving investors wondering whether the fiscal response in Europe and the US can offset the economic damage currently being wrought. (This market was in trouble long before the virus hit. (Michael MacKenzie, Financial Times, 3/14/2020)

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Cyril Ramaphosa lists countries on South Africa’s travel ban

“We will limit contact between persons who may be infected. We’re imposing a travel ban on foreign nationals from Italy, Iran, South Korea, Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom and China. We have cancelled visas from those countries. We advise against all travel to the EU, the United States, China, Iran, the UK and South Korea – this is effective immediately.

“Any foreign national who has visited these countries in the past 20 days, will be denied a visa. Anyone returning to South Africa from these high-risk countries will be quarantined for 14 days. All travelers who entered SA from these nations since mid-February, are asked to get themselves tested.” (15 March, 2020)

Netanyahu’s trial delayed by over 2 months as court activity limited over virusAs country slows down with introduction of fresh far-reaching rules in attempt to stop pandemic, May 24 date announced just two days before scheduled hearing

The opening of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trial in three corruption cases has been pushed off by more than two months due to new restrictions on Israel’s courts as part of the new measures to combat the coronavirus, the Jerusalem District Court announced Sunday morning. The move comes just two days before the scheduled March 17 hearing, which according to the Courts Administration of Israel has now been postponed until May 24. “In light of developments regarding the spread of the coronavirus, and taking into account the latest guidelines given and the declaration of a state of emergency in the courts, we have decided to cancel the scheduled hearing,” the three judges presiding over the case wrote in their announcement. On Saturday night, Justice Minister Amir Ohana declared a 24-hour “state of emergency” in Israel’s court system, “as part of the national effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.”

[Zimbabwe] – Defence and War Veterans Affairs Minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri . . . at the weekend insinuated that COVID-19 was God’s response to countries that imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe. Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri was speaking at a Zimbabwe National Liberation War Collaborators Association meeting in Chinhoyi on Saturday. She said in Shona: “This coronavirus that has come are sanctions against the countries that have imposed sanctions on us. God is now punishing them and they are staying indoors now, while their economy is screaming like what they did to ours by imposing sanctions on us. “Trump should know that he is not God. They must face the consequences of coronavirus, so that they also feel the pain.” . . . President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe stands by the international community in fighting the Covid-19, and that it was time to look after each other, especially the weak and vulnerable.

DAILYKENN.com – God is punishing the USA and other Western nations for its sanctions on Zimbabwe, the African nation’s defense minister said.

Oppah Muchinguri said the coronavirus is God’s punishment for “sanctions against the countries that have imposed sanctions on us,” according to reports.

Zimbabwe has suffered a decades-long downward spiral after ousting the Rhodesian government. White settlers rescued the region from a millennia of indescribable misery, replacing it with a wonderland of amazing technological advancement. Those advancements included modern health care that has saved the lives of countless millions of black Africans.

Could it be that God has blessed Western nations for colonizing African regions and introducing them to advanced technologies? (dailykenn, 3/17/2020)

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Now it’s time to lose the two most famous phrases of the moment.One is “Don’t panic!” The other is “an abundance of caution.”
“Don’t panic” is what nervous, defensive people say when someone warns of coming trouble. They don’t want to hear it, so their message is “Don’t worry like a coward, be blithely unconcerned like a brave person.” One way or another we’ve heard it a lot from administration people.

This is how I’ve experienced it: “Captain, that appears to be an iceberg.” “Don’t panic, officer, full steam ahead.”

“Don’t panic,” in the current atmosphere, is a way of shutting up people who are using their imaginations as a protective tool. It’s an implication of cowardice by cowards. As for “abundance of caution,” at this point, in a world-wide crisis, the cautions we must take aren’t abundant, they’re reasonable and realistic.(Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal opinion (extract), March 12, 2020)

Spain’s foreign minister has welcomed post-Brexit talks with the UK as an “incredible opportunity” for the countries to address the status of Gibraltar after centuries of dispute. Arancha González reacted warmly to calls by Gibraltar’s government for a free-movement area with Spain and suggested that traditional concepts of sovereignty were less important than a series of recent accords on issues such as tax and fighting contraband.

Spain has sought to regain sovereignty over Gibraltar since Britain took control of the Mediterranean territory through the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht. Madrid has at times instigated delays at its border with Gibraltar, hitting the territory’s economy.

However, Ms, González, who took office last month after a career focusing on international trade, argued that Spain needed to focus on “21st century sovereignty” and practical issues that would strengthen ties with the territory. “We have an incredible opportunity to fix a number of things that we have not been able to fix in the last 300 years,” she told the Financial Times. “At the end of the day, whatever agreement we find . . . will have to work for them [for Gibraltar] and it will have to work for us; that’s the only red line in reality.” . . . She added: “The Gibraltar population needs the Spaniards to function and the Spaniards need the Gibraltarians in order to enhance their prosperity . . . What matters in the 21st century is managing interdependence.” Fabian Picardo, Gibraltar’s chief minister, has called for a special deal in which Gibraltar would become part of Europe’s Schengen free-movement area, adding that under such an arrangement, the number of Spaniards working in the territory could increase dramatically. (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2020. All rights reserved)

Bombshell letters expose Belgian trawlers fishing off Britain’s Brighton Pier BREXIT means the UK can finally take back control of its fishing waters, but there are fears that foreign vessels may continue to use them illegally – and documents unearthed by Express.co.uk have revealed a row over claims Belgian trawlers were spotted fishing off Brighton Pier in the Seventies.

Under the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), which came into effect in 1983, EU countries have full access to each other’s fishing waters. National quotas were divided up using historical data, which many British fishermen feel the UK got a raw deal out of. Currently, around 68 percent of the fish caught in UK waters are caught by foreign vessels. Outside the EU, the UK would be entitled to its own Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which stretches up to 200 miles away from its shores or up to the median point between it and its neighbor (e.g. halfway across the Irish Sea or English Channel). However, before the CFP, boats from other European countries used to flout the UK’s fishing limits. For example, the UK had general fishing limits of 12 miles, but France and Belgium were entitled to fish in the 6-12 miles – and, even then, Belgian vessels were accused of fishing even closer to Britain’s shoreline. According to documents unearthed by Express.co.uk in the National Archives, there were accusations of persistent breaches of the six mile limit by Belgian trawlers off Brighton and the Sussex coast in the early Seventies.

Germany plans to send a warship to the Indian Ocean The German Navy plans to send its frigate Hamburg to the Indian Ocean in June to conduct port visits and partake in a regional, naval powwow on the French island of Réunion, the service announced March 12 Cologne, Germany, Defense News, 12 March 2020

The planned Hamburg deployment comes as Germany’s defense leaders test the waters for new engagements far from home. The sea service especially is seen by some as a potential harbinger for the type of out-of-area missions that the homeland defense-focused German military wants to expand to underwrite its geopolitical ambitions. “German Navy Chief Vice Adm. Andreas Krause has for years argued that Germany needs a presence in the Indian Ocean.” . . . Bruns said the Navy has been operating in the Indian Ocean’s environs for some time, with mine clearing in the Arabian Gulf, counterterrorism missions under the banner of Operation Enduring Freedom and the European Union’s counter-piracy operation, Atalanta, off the coast of Somalia. “The Indian Ocean is a vibrant and strategically important maritime theater,” he said. “German sea lines of communication run through the area, and the great powers are wrestling for influence.”

Krause . . . outlined the country’s maritime spheres of interest in a Defense News op-ed last December. “They range from the northern flank, i.e., the north Atlantic, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, down to the Mediterranean, and extend into the wider Indian Ocean region.”

The political rise of southern Africa’s machete gangsZimbabwe News, 16 March 2020

A dangerous cocktail of unemployment, social exclusion, poverty, corruption and gold smuggling has led to the rise of violent machete gangs, which are offering their services to local power brokers and criminal gangs fighting for power in both Mozambique and Zimbabwe. International media reports have shown that Islamist militants have carried out a number of brutal attacks and killings in Mozambique that have left hundreds dead and displaced more than 65,000 people, according to estimates by humanitarian agencies including Human Rights Watch. A wave of violence perpetrated by a criminal gang in Cabo Delgado, 2,000 kilometres north of Maputo, in the far north of Mozambique near the border with Tanzania, came to public attention after shocking armed attacks on police stations in October 2017. The group deploys thugs to attack and decapitate people, apparently indiscriminately, with machetes and firearms, and burn down houses and villages as part of its campaign of terror aimed at forcing the Mozambican state to adopt extreme Islamist practices. A study found the group wants the full adoption of Sharia law, along with an Islamic education system. Its membership is drawn from among unemployed and marginalized youth, particularly speakers of the Kimwani language, the study said.

The gangs, operating under code names “MaShurugwi” or “Mabhemba,” have been linked to senior officials, right up to the top of the government. This may explain their boldness — they appear to operate with impunity; few arrests are ever made; they have even, on several occasions, invaded hospitals to finish off their victims; and are not averse to raiding police stations to free fellow gang members.(http://www.thezimbabwenewslive.com/the-political-rise-of-southern-africas-machete-gangs/)

DAILYKENN.com — Thousands were expected to show up at the Wailing Wall to pray for an end to the coronavirus pandemic. Hundreds showed up.

Worshipers recited prayers and Psalms, sang and even danced in a circle, asking God to help in the finding of a cure for the disease, in a ceremony promoted by Chief Rabbi of Safed and president of the Rabbinical Community Association Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu in partnership with the Israeli branch of the US Orthodox Union.

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TO THE POINT

A newspaper in Darwin, Australia, included a few blank pages last Saturday. It was their way of helping readers get through the shortage of toilet paper! I well remember my mother talking about the Depression and how her family had to use newspaper, at a time when the print often came off onto your skin. It led to some humorous comments. Toilet paper was not invented until 1857. Now we can’t imagine life without it.

Beijing has, according to President Trump’s trade advisor Peter Navarro, already nationalized one American factory making medical masks. Moreover, Fox Business Network’s Maria Bartiromo on air repeatedly said the Chinese forced at least one ship carrying masks, gloves, and other protective gear to the United States to return to China. (Gordon C. Chang, Gatestone, 3/17/2020)

Dailykenn.com – If you don’t like diversity, get out of the country. That is the message of Tunahan Kuzu, the leader of a Muslim political party in The Netherlands, to native Dutch. DENK is a relatively new political party, having been formed in 2015. It is largely comprised of Turkish Muslims. (3/11/2020)

Good sleep hygiene is the new wellness goal. Try telling that to an eight-month-old baby. (Hadley Freeman, the Guardian, 3/14/2020)

The call for a National Day of Prayer on Sunday should have included a call to repentance. The US continues to kill 1.3 million babies a year, is the world’s leading producer of pornography and peoples’ morals are sadly lacking. We need to change a great deal before we can expect God to listen to us.

One of the first casualties of the coronavirus is “Playboy” magazine which is to cease publication with the Spring issue.

We had all nine grandchildren in the house last week, Monday through Friday. Hence, the lack of a blog post a week ago. Visits to the grocery store were frequent, as was taking them places. There was no time to write, or even watch the news.

After our mini-family reunion, I really hope they will want to see each other after my wife and I are no longer around to host the gathering. I’m sure they will!

I was struck (again) by how much louder the five younger ones, all boys, were, than their four older female sisters and cousins. Noise, noise, noise! Can’t boys do anything quietly? Clearly not.

I found myself walking through the daily debris silently reminding myself that “children are a blessing!” They certainly are and I’m already looking forward to when we can all be together again.

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THEN AND NOW

When everybody was gone, I started reading Boris Johnson’s “The Churchill Factor: How one man made history.”

You may have heard of Boris Johnson. He’s sometimes been described as “Britain’s Donald Trump.” On his recent visit to England, Trump expressed the opinion that Boris would make “a great prime minister.” A poll earlier this week showed him to be the favorite to succeed Theresa May. Donald Trump and Boris Johnson have known each other for some time and are good friends.

Boris served two terms as a very successful Mayor of London. More recently, he was Britain’s Foreign Secretary, the equivalent of Secretary of State.

He resigned a few weeks ago over Brexit. His objection, supported by many, is that Mrs. May, the Prime Minister, seems to want to compromise with the European Union. This would not deliver the Brexit (total independence) from the EU that was promised after the referendum over two years ago. There is still no agreement between the UK and the EU over future trade. Boris Johnson’s point is that the United Kingdom doesn’t need one – that new trade deals can be signed after breaking away from Brussels. Have faith – it will all work out.

I must admit to sympathy with his stance. Get out quick. Don’t hesitate.

His book on Churchill was written a few years ago and published in 2014. I’m now reading chapter 17 (there are 23 chapters). The chapter is titled “The Wooing of America” and details Churchill’s relationship with Franklin Roosevelt. His single-minded mission was to bring the United States into the war against Hitler. At their first wartime meeting, the two leaders were concerned that Hitler had recently invaded Russia. But Churchill knew that after Russia, he would come after Britain; and that if Britain fell and Hitler sank the Royal Navy, America would be next. The whole world would very quickly descend into the barbarism of fascism.

A lot was at stake when they met in Newfoundland on August 10th, 1941. This was the handshake that was to change the history of the twentieth century.

“As he stretches out that elegant white hand he knows he is reaching for his only lifeline; and yet there is nothing about him to convey the gloom of his position. On the contrary, his face is suddenly wreathed in smiles, babyish, irresistible.

“Roosevelt smiles back; they grip hands, for ages, each reluctant to be the first to let go, and for the next two days Churchill maintains his schmoozathon. We don’t know exactly what they say to each other at the first such Atlantic conference — the direct ancestor of NATO; but we know that Churchill lays it on thick. His mission is to build up a sense of common destiny; to work with the grain of Roosevelt’s natural instincts, and to turn the USA from distant sympathizers into full-blown allies in bloodshed.” (page 235)

This was a family reunion, only the second time a President of the United States had shaken the hand of a British prime minister in office. 160 years after Yorktown. 160 years after the United States had separated itself from the rest of the English speaking world. Now the two branches of the Anglo-Saxon world (the two sons of Joseph) were to be united in a common purpose. They met in Canada, the oldest Dominion of the British Empire, a nation founded by Loyalists at the end of the Revolutionary War. The alliance that was forming has remained the foundation of global peace and order for 77 years.

As I read Johnson’s book, I could see parallels with today. There’s no fighting this time (not yet, anyway), but once again Britain is trying to free itself from European despotism, as it has so often in history. There are those, like the current prime minister, who want to compromise; but others, like Boris Johnson, who are in a Churchillian mood, wanting to raise two fingers to the German-dominated EU (the two fingers were “V for Victory” in WWII, but, reversed, they have another meaning in England, which you will have to Google!)

History may repeat itself.

Confidence in Mrs. May is waning. The Opposition Labour Party is scandalizing Britain with its anti-semitism. The smaller parties are not credible. An internal coup in the Conservative Party could replace Mrs. May with Boris Johnson, just as Chamberlain was replaced with Winston Churchill.

There’s another analogy.

Mr. Trump repeated a commitment to Mrs. May that the US will offer a free trade deal to the United Kingdom when Britain leaves the EU. (EU rules mean that no deal can be signed until D-Day on 29th March next year; D for Departure!) American farmers, losing markets in the current trade dispute with the EU, will benefit from a new trade deal with the UK; Britain will benefit with plentiful supplies of cheap food.

Once again, the New World may come to the aid of the Old.

Once again, a family reunion could make a big difference in the world.

There’s another lesson from Churchill’s meeting with FDR. After the historic meeting of president and prime minister, there was a “divine service” on the Sunday morning. Sailors of the two nations sang hymns together – “chosen by Churchill – that express that single heritage: two broadly Protestant nations bound together against a vile and above all a pagan regime.” (pages 235-6)

This was just a few weeks after the National Day of Prayer called by King George VI during Dunkirk.

At such a critical time, today’s leaders should follow the example of their predecessors and ask God for divine help through a very challenging time.

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BEWARE OF CHINESE TIES

Britain is keen for a sweet deal with China after Brexit – but watch out for Beijing’s ‘debt-trap diplomacy’, says Michael Auslin. For decades we’ve heard dire warnings about China’s growing military power, but these doom-mongers have missed the point. China isn’t on the war path. Where old empires would start by invading, it starts by trading. Only when an economy has become dependent on trade does Beijing begin to demand more, with the aim of creating an ever-expanding ‘Greater China’ in its near abroad. (Freddy Gray, The Spectator, 8/2)

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FARMERS IN CRISIS

There’s increasing talk of land redistribution in South Africa, the wealthiest nation on the African continent. It’s been almost a quarter of a century since the end of apartheid, a period in which few black South Africans have seen any benefits. A wealthy elite has been created through corruption at the highest level, but little has been done to help the average person.

Neighboring Zimbabwe confiscated land from white farmers at the turn of this century. The result was mass starvation, the collapse of the currency and economic chaos.

The European farmers who colonized southern Africa in the nineteenth century brought a great deal of development to the region. Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) was the ‘breadbasket of Africa;” now, after almost forty years of independence, it’s the “basket case of Africa.” The white farmers who once dominated Rhodesia were “commercial farmers,” similar to their American and Canadian counter-parts. African farmers are “subsistence” farmers, who just grow enough food for their own families. This is a major cultural difference the world does not understand. Confiscating white farmland can only have one consequence – a dramatic drop in food production (Zimbabwe saw a 90% drop, with a consequent famine).

Farmers in South Africa are being murdered at an alarming rate. Many have chosen to leave the country. Western Australia is one area that is attracting them. Other parts of Africa are offering the farmers 99-year leases to boost their own agricultural production. Even Russia is encouraging them to relocate.

Other farmers from Europe moved to North America, Australia and New Zealand in the nineteenth century. These commercial farmers produce a disproportionate percentage of the world’s food. Higher tariffs on agricultural produce could affect this, along with changes in the weather and massive fires that seem to be a permanent fixture of our landscape. All of these threaten today’s farmers.

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AFRICAN ELECTION

Zimbabwe’s woes never seem to end. The “first free election” held at the weekend, has been followed by riots and violence as the losing party claims to have won. It’s not possible to determine who really won, but after 38 years, ZANU-PF is still in power. Most people will not be surprised.

Prior to Zimbabwe, Rhodesia had elections for decades without any violence. Zimbabwe has not been able to achieve that. As is the case elsewhere in Africa, tribalism and corruption have led to democracy being compromised. Zimbabwe’s first leader, Robert Mugabe, was in power for almost 38 years, leading a very corrupt regime.

This handout photograph provided courtesy of the Dutch Department of Defense on September 7, 2017 shows houses and cars damaged after the passage of Hurricane Irma on the Dutch Caribbean island of Sint Maarten.Hurricane Irma, rampaging across the Caribbean, has produced sustained winds at 295 kilometres per hour (183 miles per hour) for more than 33 hours, making it the longest-lasting, top-intensity cyclone ever recorded, France’s weather service said on September 7. / AFP PHOTO / DUTCH DEFENSE MINISTRY / GERBEN VAN ES / Netherlands OUT

A PERFECT STORM

Stuart Varney on Fox Business News remarked this morning, that “it rattles the nerves. First, Hurricane Harvey, then Irma, now the earthquake in Mexico.” His companion added: ‘Will we see a plague of locusts next?”

Jennifer Lawrence had her own interpretation, blaming it all, perhaps predictably, on Donald Trump. What’s happening, she claimed, is that these disasters are “nature’s wrath on Americans for voting for Trump.” Clearly, it’s not her intellect that has made her the world’s best-paid actress!

According to the Conservative Tribune, actress Alyssa Milano (“Who’s the Boss?” “Melrose Place”) joined the ranks of liberals mocking Trump’s response to Harvey in a tweet that mocked the President’s call for a National Day of Prayer on Sunday.

One thing is certain – these disasters are going to cost the United States, and other countries affected, billions of dollars. The Caribbean island of Barbuda has seen 95% of its buildings destroyed. The actor, Robert DeNiro, has promised to rebuild the island, describing the devastation as “literally rubble.” Mr. DeNiro has a major property investment on the island. The Prime Minister, Gaston Browne, describes the island as “barely habitable.”

This morning it became clear that FEMA, the government agency that oversees disaster relief, does not have the funds to help Florida after the second hurricane hits this weekend; it was only yesterday that Congress voted aid for Texas after Hurricane Harvey. Meanwhile, Islamic Relief Worldwide has been given over $700, 000 by Congress and is expected to receive more. There’s also the 800,000 young people who entered the US illegally during the last administration – the cost of housing, schooling, and feeding them, in addition to providing them with free healthcare, must be astronomical. Add to all of this the cost of the ongoing wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan. And, following the devastating earthquake south of the border this morning, Mexico is not going to be contributing one peso to the cost of building that wall.

The fact is that the US is broke. It has been for as long as anybody can remember. The national debt is over $20 trillion. One TV news report today warned that flood insurance may not pay out for a while, if at all.

Scott Shellady (FBN) warned this morning that with “bonds going up in price, and interest rates” low, the economy is in trouble. He added that: “Something is fundamentally wrong” and something has to give. Stuart Varney added that something may give by Monday morning! The price of gold is also going up again while the dollar is falling, two more signs of worries in financial markets.

The three hurricanes (Harvey, Irma and Jose, now forming) have certainly made financial markets jittery, although companies like Lowe’s and Home Depot are expected to do well in the recovery. There’s even a fourth hurricane, Hurricane Katia, forming over Mexico.

Meanwhile, the BBC’s website reports that the Netherlands is sending more troops to St. Martin to deal with serious post-hurricane looting and a total breakdown in law and order.

Although the death toll could be high this weekend, the greater long-term threat is to the economies of the countries concerned. Many smaller businesses are not likely to reopen and millions of people may move out of the affected areas, as they did in the aftermath of Katrina twelve years ago.

Interestingly, Monday is the 16th anniversary of 9-11, arguably the biggest disaster of all. The country is on high alert for another possible terror attack (there have been many in Europe in recent months). A serious attack equaling 9-11 would have a further negative effect on the economy and on the morale of the people.

Another historical anniversary is today – it’s exactly 117 years since the worst hurricane in American history made landfall in Galveston, killing 12,000 people.

America and its neighbors need time to recuperate from the current disasters.

The National Day of Prayer may help, but Americans are not inclined to repent, a prerequisite for answered prayer.

“if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (II Chronicles 7:14)

The country needs to think about this passage this weekend as it observes the National Day of Prayer.

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European Court Orders EU Countries to Take Migrants“Politics has raped European law and values.” by Soeren Kern • September 7, 2017 at 5:00 am

The September 6 ruling, which has been hailed as a victory for European federalism, highlights the degree to which the European Union has usurped decision-making powers from its 28 member states. The ruling also showcases how the EU’s organs of jurisprudence have become politicized.

Many so-called asylum seekers have refused to relocate to Central and Eastern Europe because the financial benefits there are not as generous as in France, Germany or Scandinavia.

“Let us not forget that those arriving have been raised in another religion, and represent a radically different culture. Most of them are not Christians, but Muslims. This is an important question, because Europe and European identity is rooted in Christianity. Is it not worrying in itself that European Christianity is now barely able to keep Europe Christian? If we lose sight of this, the idea of Europe could become a minority interest in its own continent.” — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

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Germany Heading for Four More Years of Pro-EU, Open-Door Migration Policies by Soeren Kern • September 8, 2017 at 5:00 am

The policy positions of Merkel and Schulz on key issues are virtually identical: Both candidates are committed to strengthening the European Union, maintaining open-door immigration policies, pursuing multiculturalism and quashing dissent from the so-called far right.

Merkel and Schulz both agree that there should be no upper limit on the number of migrants entering Germany.

Merkel’s grand coalition backed a law that would penalize social media giants, including Facebook, Google and Twitter, with fines of €50 million ($60 million) if they fail to remove offending content from their platforms within 24 hours. Observers say the law is aimed at silencing critics of Merkel’s open-door migration policy. (Gatestone Institute)

On Tuesday I was able to see the widely acclaimed movie “Dunkirk”. It tells the story of a major turning point in World War II, before the United States entered the war.

After the declaration of war in September 1939 Britain sent the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to France to help the French fight Germany. The German advance through France was so rapid that the British Army was cornered in the small coastal town of Dunkirk. 338,000 men were about to be captured by the Nazis. Such a catastrophe would have left Great Britain unable to defend itself against the Nazi onslaught on Britain widely expected to follow the fall of France. In turn, if Britain had fallen, Canada, a dominion of the British Empire, would have been under great pressure; the United States would then be next, at the time unprepared to fight a major conflict.

It’s hard for people now to realize how victory over Germany was not a foregone conclusion. Even after the US entered the war, the advantage still lay with Germany and its far-eastern ally, Japan. The Germans were a formidable military force. Adolf Hitler only came to power in 1933, but in a little over six years had taken the country from the depths of depression and despair to the height of economic and military power. No country was able to stop Germany’s rapid takeover of Europe.

In May of 1940, faced with this incredible threat, the British changed leadership. Winston Churchill came to power. One of his first tasks was to rescue the BEF from Dunkirk. Only 30,000 beleaguered soldiers could be saved by the navy from the beach at Dunkirk. The call went out for ordinary British people to take their boats and their yachts across the Channel to help rescue the others. Over 700 vessels accomplished this heroic task – big men in small boats. They not only had to contend with the advancing German Wehrmacht. They were also risking aerial bombardment by the German Luftwaffe.

The evacuation began on 26th May.

On the same day, King George VI called for a National Day of Prayer. Photos taken at the time show tens of thousands of people lining up at churches across the country, anxious to pray for their loved ones on the beaches of northern France. The King called on the British people to repent and turn back to God.

Biblical verses like this one were his inspiration: “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (II Chron 7:14). The King was a British-Israelite – he believed that the British people were literally God’s people:

“In The Independent, 6 April, 1996, there appeared a facsimile of a letter written by George VI in 1922, when he was Albert, the Duke of York. In the letter, George VI wrote:

”I am sure the British Israelite business is true. I have read a lot about it lately and everything no matter how large or small points to our being ’the chosen race’.”

MIRACLE OF DUNKIRK

What happened then was truly amazing and was referred to as “the miracle of Dunkirk.” The weather around Dunkirk changed dramatically, making it impossible for the Luftwaffe to continue their deadly attacks on the stranded British soldiers. Following this, the English Channel calmed, enabling the armada of small boats to cross and rescue the men from France.

It took a few days to get everybody home. It was to be four years before they were able to go back, attacking Germany on the beaches of Normandy. Then, another year before the final victory, ending the European theater of war on May 8th, 1945.

LESSONS FOR TODAY FROM DUNKIRK

First of all, the movie is a reminder of how quickly the situation in Europe can change and threaten the United Kingdom.

Secondly, the movie reminds us of the long history of what Winston Churchill called “the island race,” the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic peoples who have inhabited the British Isles for well over a thousand years.

The only criticisms I’ve seen of the movie were in Time Magazine and USA Today. Both lamented the lack of minorities and women in the film. Neither reviewer seemed to realize that non-white immigration into the UK did not begin until after World War 2; and women were not in combat roles until fairly recently.

Rather, the men who stood on that beach, waiting to be rescued, were the direct descendants of the people Churchill was talking about. Their ancestors stood up and fought the Spanish to ensure the Protestant Reformation, which gave them and others religious freedom; Churchill’s own ancestor the First Duke of Marlborough led an army against King Louis XIV’s forces; a century later the British defeated Napoleon who also tried to unite Europe forcibly; in the last century, the enemy was the Kaiser before Hitler. Each time it was the British people, fairly secure on their island, who preserved the freedoms of smaller European nations.

They are not the same people today. After World War II, immigration from the West Indies, Africa and the Asian sub-continent, transformed the country. More recently, arrivals from other parts of the European Union have entered the UK. Today, well over 50% of the people of London are not of British ethnic descent.

Most of these people are highly unlikely to fight for Britain if a similar situation arose to that faced in 1939-45.

There is also a third, and deeper, lesson here for the United Kingdom.

Christopher Nolan, the producer and director of the movie, deserves acclaim for an outstanding film. But the movie does not even mention the King’s call for a National Day of Prayer on the day the evacuation began. In an irreligious age, this is to be expected. However, it’s an appropriate time to remind the island race of the role religion played in the four centuries of their greatness.

After the Protestant Reformation, the country had to act quickly to secure its freedom and independence from Rome. They began building what became the greatest navy in the world. Colonies were established in different parts of the world as they pursued trade. Wherever they went, they established parliamentary government, the rule of law and basic freedoms. All of this came about as a direct consequence of the break from Rome.

The British people lost sight of this after World War II. They reversed course in a pursuit of an alternative dream, that of European unification. Instead of pursuing a different course to Rome, they signed the Treaty of Rome and lost themselves in an alien enterprise. Continental Europe has always been more centralized – gradually the British people came under increasing control by unelected bureaucrats in Brussels, together with foreign politicians in Strasbourg and Berlin. At the same time, they lost support from the Commonwealth of Nations that they had built up since the first settlement in Virginia over 400 years ago.

An increasingly irreligious people lost sight of their unique place in the world. It was still there at the queen’s coronation in 1953, when she committed herself to enforce the laws of God in her numerous territories. Things did not go according to plan.

Faced with catastrophe at Dunkirk, the King rightly called for a National Day of prayer. Apparently, it was not well received amongst the soldiers, who interpreted the call as saying that they were doomed unless God intervened.

It’s the same today. The UK has been reduced to a position of weakness in a hostile world. Without a return to the foundations that made Britain great, the country, racked with divisions over Brexit and the future of the United Kingdom itself, and disunited by diversity, is in danger of falling apart or becoming a vassal state of a coming European superpower.